Part 5

In an old Formal Garden, where Topiary work is considered the principal feature, it is advisable to allow only men who are thoroughly experienced in the work to do the clipping. In fact, if the shape and symmetrical appearance of the trees are to be kept as nearly as possible perfect, experienced men are necessary. Of course, in any garden it will sometimes happen that the gardener may have to put a novice to do some part of the clipping, as fortunate indeed is the gardener in charge of a Topiary garden who can rely year after year on three or four men who are thoroughly trained and accustomed to the art of Topiary clipping. When it is found necessary to employ a person to do any part of the clipping who has not had any previous experience, he should only be allowed to begin on trees of the least importance, and those most concealed from view. The beginner will always find that a round or oval shaped tree is a great deal less difficult to work upon than a square one, or a hedge. Therefore, if possible, he should be allowed to get his hand in on round trees. It is always a wise plan when a novice is learning the work, to have a thoroughly experienced person working close at hand—but not on the same tree—to assist him and see that as few mistakes as possible are made. No hard and fast line can be drawn as to the exact date when the clipping season should begin, but it should be as soon as possible after the trees have completed their growth, as at that season the young shoots are soft, and not so difficult to clip. In any case it should not be later than the middle of September, especially if there is a large amount of clipping to be done. If it can be found convenient to start a fortnight or three weeks earlier, so much the better. More especially does this apply to beech or horn-beam, as they finish their growth sooner than the yew, and if they are not clipped immediately, the young shoots get hard and, of course, are more difficult to manage. Where there is enough clipping to keep three or four men at work for nine or ten weeks, the sooner the work is commenced after September comes in the better, as it enables the work to be got through before the severe frosts of winter set in. When the trees are of a large size—a thing that is generally the case in old gardens—scaffolding of some sort will be necessary, and for this purpose there is nothing better than trestles made to close up into as little space as possible, for the double purpose of storing them away in winter or at any time they are not required for use, and for the sake of convenience in carrying them about the garden. The trestles should be made in at least three different sizes, two of each size, or more if necessary. These, with the aid of a single plank laid across two equal sized trestles, will generally suffice for the work. Of course, the plank that is used must be strong enough to carry a man, and wide enough to give him plenty of standing room.

If the trees are old and practically perfected in shape, the work of clipping is not such a difficult matter as when the trees are in course of training. But it is usually the case that although many of the trees are old there are young ones coming on that have to be shaped. In the case of old trees, as a general rule, all that is required is to take off the year’s growth; clipping back to the old growth of the previous year.

Hard clipping of old trees is a practice that should to a certain extent be carried out, unless it is desired to enlarge the size of the tree. If this is the case, from one inch and a half to two inches of the year’s growth should be left on, but not more.

Altering the shape of old trees is a thing that should be avoided as far as possible, especially if the trees are well shaped and in a healthy condition. It sometimes happens that one or more trees in the garden may have been allowed through careless management or some other cause to grow out of shape; or perhaps an old tree may be obscuring the view in some way or other. In the case of such a thing happening, it will be necessary to use the pruning knife or saw rather severely, both of which can be used with perfect safety when they are in the hands of a person who thoroughly understands the yew; provided, of course, he does not go to extremes, the yew is a tree that will stand a fair amount of rough treatment, and one that can be twisted and cut into almost any shape desired.

I have seen old specimen trees that had grown out of shape, or were, perhaps, shutting out the view in some part of the garden, taken down and re-trained, or cut down with the pruning saw, or knife, as the case might be; and yet in a very few years they had quite recovered and grown into nice, well shaped trees, full of vigour and well furnished with young growth. Rather will the tree, if it is carefully managed, be improved by the severe pruning it has been subjected to.

Of course, after an operation like the one I am describing, great care will have to be taken that every use is made of the young growth, as the main object to be kept in view is to get the tree well furnished again in as little time as possible. There will be very little, if any need for using the shears the first year after the cutting back has been done; but if the young growth is at all rank, it should be carefully thinned with an ordinary pruning knife, always taking care that only the weaker shoots are removed, leaving the stronger ones to grow for use another year, when they can be tied in and cover up, as far as possible, the old and bare wood. When tying young shoots, tarred string will be found most suitable. It answers the purpose very well and it is easier to tie than wire, although it has a tendency to decay quickly through being always exposed to the weather. In the case of young shoots the pressure is not great and string will generally last as long as the tie is required, as the shoots soon become matted and interwoven together; but if a strong branch should happen to get displaced in any way, the use of string as a tying material should be avoided and copper wire should always be substituted in its place. In the case of an old branch the pressure is greater, and whatever material has been used in the work, it will as a rule be intended to last for years. For the purpose of tree tying of any description copper wire is to be recommended; it has not the same injurious effect on the trees as ordinary galvanised wire; but whatever is used, cork should always be placed between the wire and the wood as a preventive against cutting the tree.

When clipping an old tree that is a perfectly square one, it is a good practice to use either a line or some kind of straight edge. If the man who is doing the work uses one or the other he can generally give the tree a better and more finished appearance than if he trusts to the eye only.

Perhaps of all the different kind of shapes there are to clip in the Topiary garden, hedges require the most skill and care, and only the most experienced men should be allowed to undertake the work of clipping them. Hedges in the garden are mostly planted in such a way that their entire length is visible, and of course the most casual observer can see at a glance whether they are properly clipped or if there are any shear marks visible on them. If the hedge is composed mostly of curves, then of course the clipping is not such a difficult matter. A long, straight hedge and one that is almost entirely made up of curves, differ in the same respect with regard to the ease with which they can be clipped, exactly in the same way as a round or an oval tree. When clipping a straight hedge a person should never trust entirely to the eye, and lines should always be used; and for the purpose nothing is better than ordinary garden lines.

In the case of hedges that are cut into battlements at the top, these should have a line stretched lengthways along the ground, another along the base of the battlements, and another along the top of the battlements; and whatever size and width the battlements are, say, for instance, two feet high and two feet in width between them, a stick cut exactly two feet in length or a two-foot rule should be used to measure the exact height and distance between the battlements; and if those precautions are taken, any person with a fair knowledge of the art of clipping can hardly with ordinary care and attention get wrong; as, after all, the work of clipping Topiary trees is not so difficult as might be expected.

There are several points that should always be remembered. Symmetry and shape are necessary to make a good tree; and this may be said to be the first and most important factor in the work. Another point is to take particular care that the shears do not cut off more than is necessary. By that I mean, never to allow the shears to cut deep enough into the tree to make a hole. Another very important point to aim at is to give the tree as smooth and even an appearance as possible after the work is finished. I am perfectly aware that, in a large collection of yews or other clipped trees, there are always some that it is impossible to clip properly, on account of weak growth, or some other cause. For instance, trees that are growing in a part of the garden where they are fully exposed to wind and storm are almost certain to get into an unhealthy condition. The growth becomes weak and stunted, or perhaps the branches get worked out of place, or even die out altogether. In the case of trees of that description, no matter how much tying is done or how carefully they are clipped, they can never be made to have the same appearance as those that are full of young growth and are in a healthy and vigorous state.

Where the garden has been planted with mixed trees—such as yew, holly, boxwood and horn-beam, the clipping should all be done in the autumn so as to give the garden a tidy and uniform appearance. Autumn is not generally considered the right season of the year for holly clipping, but if there are some, more or less, planted among the yews in the Topiary garden, it is necessary that they should be clipped at the same time as the other subjects, for the sake of appearance. But if hollies are planted by themselves in some isolated part of the garden, whether in hedges or bushes, the work of clipping them should be carried out towards the latter end of May or beginning of June; then hard clipping every other year will suffice for them. At Levens we clip the holly hedges which are not actually in the Topiary garden hard back to the old wood every alternate year, and other years we merely go over them with a pair of shears and cut away the long shoots. I am rather of the opinion that hard clipping of hollies every year is more injurious than beneficial to the trees.

It is evident to anyone who has seen an old Dutch or Topiary garden, that, in the formation and laying out of the grounds, boxwood has always been considered one of the principal features, and in most of them it remains so to this day.

Where box succeeds well and remains in perfect health, no care or attention should be spared to keep it so, for there is no edging that can be used in the garden to be compared with it for beauty. It has, however, some drawbacks, the principal one of which is the excellent accommodation it affords to snails and other garden pests; but its advantages more than counterbalance its defects. Like the hollies, every other year is sufficient for clipping it, and there is no more suitable month for the work than June. There should be no clipping done to boxwood until all danger of frost is gone, as it is extremely dangerous to clip before that period has passed. There is nothing more injurious to newly clipped boxwood than sharp frosts. I have seen boxwood that was over a hundred years old clipped in April, with the result that a few sharp frosty nights killed the whole of it.

Excepting during the clipping season, there is very little work to be done to the trees in a Topiary garden, unless it is top-dressing them with some sort of manure, or keeping a look-out for branches that have become loose through wind or some other cause. If this occurs, the branches should be immediately tied back into their places before any injury takes place to the tree.

There is another danger that should be strictly guarded against in winter, and that is, the danger the trees undergo in the event of heavy falls of snow. When the trees are old and large and in every way adapted for carrying a heavy weight of snow, no time should be lost in getting it removed as quickly as possible; the sooner the men get to work the better, even before the snow has ceased if it is at all likely to be a heavy fall. The labour of having to go over the trees two or three times must not be considered if they are to be saved from injury. It is much better to keep constantly knocking the snow off with light switches, than take the risk of having the trees crushed out of shape and broken.

THE MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING OF YOUNG TREES

In my last chapter I dealt almost exclusively with the management of old trees. In this chapter I intend to devote the space principally to the treatment that will have to be followed in the training and shaping of young trees in the Topiary garden. I shall try to give as clear and concise an idea as possible to those who are contemplating laying out a garden, or who may already have done so, in which Topiary work is intended to be the main feature, although the training and shaping of young trees does not belong entirely to a garden in course of formation. Generally in old gardens, trees will be found in the course of being trained. If the garden has been laid out and the trees carefully planted on the lines advised in a previous chapter, a record should be carefully made as to the exact date when each tree was planted and also regarding the shape that each tree in the garden is intended to represent when it is finished. A record of that description, made at the period of the work, will prove of great interest in after years, both to those who own the garden and to others who are either interested in it or may happen to visit it. A record of the date of planting and the shapes that the trees were originally meant to represent, seems to have been a thing quite neglected during the formation of the old Topiary gardens, which seems to me to be a very great pity.

To a great extent the general management of young trees is altogether different from the management required to be given to old trees; inasmuch as the difficulties are more numerous, and the care and attention necessary to be bestowed on them more manifold. Our forefathers with the greatest skill and care laid out and formed the old established Topiary gardens of the present day, and afterwards year by year trained and shaped the fine old specimens of the Topiary art now to be seen in some of the old gardens, so that when a person is walking through one of these gardens, and examining the quaint and curious shapes of the trees, he cannot fail to admire them and to reflect upon the amount of skill and labour that has been bestowed on them. It would be curious, indeed, if he failed to pause, and consider the amount of patience the gardeners of earlier years were endowed with. In many respects the gardener of the present time has the advantage in Topiary work at least over his brother of one or two hundred years ago. Whether the gardeners of the present day are more skilled in that special art, is a question which I am not prepared to answer; but I am certain that there is no mistaking the abilities of the old gardeners in the art of training trees. The work they have left behind them proves this beyond a doubt. The gardener of the present day has more variety of shapes to choose from, and a larger and more varied selection of trees to work upon.

If the trees were a good size and well grown when they were planted, the work of clipping and training them may be commenced the following year, according to the shape into which it is intended to form the tree. It is not advisable that any clipping or training be done to the trees the same autumn or winter that they are planted. It should be deferred until the following autumn, in order to allow of fresh root action taking place. Some of the trees can be clipped into certain shapes when they are quite small; but for other shapes a much larger tree is necessary to commence work upon. It is a very wise policy to go to a little extra expense on the original outlay of the trees, rather than buy small trees that will be of no use whatever for the work for which they are ultimately intended.

If the suggestion that I made in a previous chapter has been acted upon, viz., the buying in of the required number of trees some years before the work of making the garden is taken in hand, and bringing them on in the home nursery beds until they have become a suitable size, and until the time arrives when they are required for planting in their permanent places in the garden, the actual cost of the trees will be reduced to a minimum, and better and more suitable trees secured than if they had been purchased direct from some of the nurserymen.

Although no actual shaping need be done to them until they are planted in their places in the garden where they are to remain, a little pruning and regulating of the shoots may be carried out. If that is done, it will be found to be a great advantage in adapting the trees to their future work. The buying of young trees from the nurserymen and growing them on in nursery beds in the reserve garden, until they are required for planting in the garden, is a system regularly practised here, and one that is well worth a trial.

To the person desirous of having a Topiary garden there are two courses open. The first is, he can either train and shape his own trees, or else he can purchase from one or other of the nurserymen who make clipped yews a speciality, a ready-made collection. Trees that are clipped into all manner of shapes can now be purchased from some of the nurserymen either at home or imported from the Continent. The system of buying trees that are already shaped is an excellent way of getting a Topiary garden made and furnished with trees in the quickest possible time. But it is a plan that is not to be universally recommended or practised. In the first place, trees of that description generally have the very great drawback of being very expensive. Only those who have to deal with the training of yews have any idea how much labour and care is spent on a tree in shaping it into even the smallest bird; and it therefore stands to reason that the time and labour nurserymen spend on clipping and training Topiary trees, and preparing them for the market, must be paid for by the purchaser. But there is another, and perhaps an even greater objection in buying trees already trained. Surely the person who loves his garden and takes a great personal interest in Topiary work, would never think of planting it with trees that have already been cut into shapes by other hands. Although there is no question about the excellence of nursery trained trees, I would strongly recommend that the person who spends the time and money in forming and laying out a Topiary garden, should have the patience to undertake and carry through the training of his own trees. A far greater source of pleasure will be derived from watching your own trees grow, and from seeing them clipped and trained each year into the particular shape that it is intended they should represent.

It has been very often said, and said with a great deal of truth, that a person can with care and management train the yew into almost any shape desired. Even figures or letters are easy to form out of yew. In handling the yew, you have a kind of tree to work upon that lends itself in the most convenient way to the work of clipping and training into all the quaint and curious shapes that are found in the Topiary gardens. The adaptation of the tree for the work, and the ease with which it can be twisted and bent into almost any conceivable shape, places it far before any other for the particular work I am describing. Therefore no fear need be entertained that there will be any lack of variety of shapes in the garden; provided, of course, that due care is exercised at the commencement of the work, and that each individual tree is clipped and trained to represent an entirely different design or figure, as the case may be. As a matter of fact, in any garden that contains, say, one hundred trees or even more, out of all that number no two trees need be exactly alike. Each can be made to represent an absolutely different shape. Of course there is no reason, except as a matter of taste, why each tree should be made to represent quite a distinct shape from its neighbour. It might be considered a better plan to plant the trees in pairs, side by side, or on the opposite sides of a walk, and then train and shape them into pairs resembling each other in every way. Training in pairs is an arrangement that might find favour with some, and to a certain extent might be adopted with advantage in the garden, especially at the ends of paths. If it is decided to clip some of the trees in pairs resembling each other, they should be those that are planted near the ends of the path, one on each side. If there are two trees planted one on each side of the path, the effect is better if they are clipped into identically the same shape than would be the case if they both represented something different. But I think, on the whole, if there is anything to choose between the two styles, the one tree one shape style should have the preference, if only for the sake of variety.